Korean retail investors margin calls in Korea; 1.2 million affected
SRRF Commentary: When the chips are down
SRRF Commentary: When the chips are down
Higher oil prices and higher rate uncertainty led to high anxiety as equity market darlings started crashing lower. Is this just a technical wash out or the signs of something more sinister?
The leveraged play on the AI buildout took a brutal hit in July, with the NYSE Semiconductor index down over 21% in US dollar terms, pushing AI heavy indices like Korea down 22%, the Nikkei down over 8% and Taiwan and the Nasdaq down over 6.5% over the month in local currency terms. Investors who had recently invested in levered ETFs, or even took out margin debt to participate in the parabolic rally, felt the brunt once this trend reversed sharply. According to Goldman Sachs, over 1.2 million retail investors in Korea, or roughly 3.5% of the adult population, received a margin call. But perhaps most publicly, the 25-year-old founder of hedge fund Situational Awareness, Leopold Aschenbrenner, was forced to sell the entirety of his public book to Ken Griffin’s Citadel (approximately US$16bn worth) to meet a margin call after his fund lost 78% in July. Given the selloff was predominantly isolated to the chips trade, emerging markets suffered the most, down over 3% for the month. Global equities and the overall US S&P 500 were mostly unchanged, thanks to a 2% rally in the Magnificent Seven, driven by strong earnings from Microsoft, Amazon and Apple, which stemmed the rout by the end of the month.
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